I need a USB audio interface for a laptop. We do location sound for film and
video. Do these units work OK?

They would be used two ways - line io from a field mixer - also sometimes
with phantom powered mics directly to the interface mic pre.

The field mixer is usually feeding dialog from lav or pole mic. This is of
the usual film/video location dialog quality. Sometimes we use it, sometimes
we do ADR in studio.

We sometimes also record background ambient location sound with two Schoeps
Mk 4 capsules mounted in a "binaural" head. This would be connected directly
to the mic pre of the interface. Good clean sound is important here. This
sound will go on a background track to tie scene clips together. This sound
will be used in the release product.

I use a DEVA HD recorder now and am looking for a wild (non sync) backup of
decent quality.

This is just an experiment in frugality. The DEVA costs $10,000 and I don't
want to spend the money for a second one. I have a laptop. The USB interface
is less than $500.

If neither of the above are any good - how about the Sound Devices USBPRE
1.5 interface? I do have several of their MIXPRE units ( mounted on
cameras ) and they work very well indeed.

Bill Finch

please reply to group or (remove nospam)

I love my MBox, but can't really compare it to the Lexicon, as I have no
experience with it.

As long as you know the limitations with the MBox (2 inputs, no timecode
sync, etc) you should be happy with it.

In article writes:

I need a USB audio interface for a laptop. We do location sound for film and
video. Do these units work OK?

The M-Box is a proven device. Lexicon has had a spotted history when
it comes to making audio interfaces for computers. The hardware is
probably fine, but their drivers have been flaky and never
satisfactorily revised before the hardware has been discontinued.

Since you're looking for a basic backup system and somethingn for
incidental recording, I'd go with the M-Box. It has the advantage,
too, that what it records is fully compatible with the full blown
ProTools software which probably gets used somewhere along the line
during the production phase of your work.


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